Happy New Year! 2015 is upon us, and here at Curated Books we are always thinking up new excuses to celebrate (and investigate!) literary history. So join us in rewinding a whole century and selecting some top pick publications from 100 years ago! What did 1915 have on offer, for the avid reader, the prose heeder, or paperback feeder? Let’s take a look!

 

T.S Eliot – “The Love Song of Alfred Prufrock”

This poem from T.S Eliot is often seen as one of the seminal works of the inception of modernist poetry; a popular poetry magazine of this era identified that his work embodied a new and unique phenomenon among contemporary writers, opinion that is still regarded today.

On the surface, “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” relays the thoughts of a sexually frustrated middle-aged man who wants to say something but is afraid to do so, and ultimately does not. The poem itself is concerned primarily with the irregular musings of the narrator, and it remains unclear who they are directed at. Eliot has admitted to some autobiographical elements.

One reviewer described the poem as an “erotic foray into the narrow streets of a social and emotional underworld”, although critics did not similarly appreciate it at the time; the poem was slammed for it sexual themes and unrealistic portrayal of life in London in 1915.

D.H Lawrence – The Rainbow

The story follows three generations of a family living in rural Nottinghamshire, the Brangwen family. Similarly to many publications at this time, the text focuses on the individual character struggles with growth and fulfilment within the confining strictures of English social and class precedents. The book was highly controversial due to Lawrence’s frank treatment of sexuality and desire, and was eventually prosecuted in an obscenity trial in late 1915, where all copies of the book were collected and burnt. It remained banned for a further 11 years, although was available in the USA. A sequel, Woman In Love, was published in 1920.

Virginia Woolfe – The Voyage Out

The Voyage Out was the first published works by Virginia Woolfe, and is said to have been penned by her during a time of psychological vulnerability; with bouts of depression and even attempted suicides. The resultant text contained the beginnings of all that would blossom in her later work: the innovative narrative style, the focus on feminine consciousness, sexuality and death. The plot features a young woman’s journey of self-discovery in a kind of modern mythical voyage, set on her father’s ship. The characters she encounters give Woolfe a chance to satirise Edwardian life and society. The protagonist’s transcendence from a cloistered life in a London suburb to freedom, challenging intellectual discourse and discovery, very likely reflects Woolf’s own journey from a repressive household to the intellectual stimulation of the literary world.